A REVIEW OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN TAIWANijesrt.com/issues /Archive-2016/October-2016/50.pdf · World 1,3147.3 3,839.9 4,331.3 3,135.2 86.0 (86.4) 9.6 (9.2) 4.4 (4.4) Data sources:

[Lu* et al., 5(10): October, 2016] ISSN: 2277-9655

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IJESRT INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH

TECHNOLOGY

A REVIEW OF RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN TAIWAN Shyi-Min Lu*

* Retiree of Energy and Environmental Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chutung,

Hsinchu 310, Taiwan, ROC.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.160874

ABSTRACT With limited indigenous conventional energy resources, Taiwan imports over 97% of its energy supply from foreign

countries, mostly from the Middle East. Developing independent renewables is thus of priority concern for the

Taiwanese government. A medium subtropical island surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, Taiwan has enormous

potential to develop various renewables, such as solar energy, biomass energy, wind power, geothermal energy,

hydropower, etc. According to the estimation, the total renewable energy reserve is about 194 GW, which equals to

4 times of national installed power capacity in 2015, e.g., 48.7 GW, so Taiwan has abundant renewable energy

resources indeed. However, owing to the importance of conventional fossil energy in generating exceptionally cheap

electricity, renewable energy has not yet fully developed in Taiwan, resulting from a lack of market’s competition.

In 2016, after the new government came to power, the Bureau of Energy (BOE) Ministry of Economic Affairs

(MOEA) set up an active promotion goal for the renewable energies (RE) in Taiwan: the total RE power capacity

will be 20% share of the national power installation capacity by 2025. In the meantime, the four inherent

shortcomings—low energy density, high cost of power generation, instability of power supply, and current cost of

renewable energy being still higher than that of fossil energy—have to be overcome first, before renewable energy is

actually formed as a main component in national energy mix. The development of renewable energy not only

contributes to the independence of energy supply, but also achieves the benefits of economic development and

environmental protection. This study reviews the current status, achievements, polices and future plans in these

areas for Taiwan.

KEYWORDS: Renewable energies; Promotion strategies; Reserves; Taiwan.

INTRODUCTION After the industrial revolution, traditional fossil energy had been explored and adopted in great amount (Table 1), so

it is gradually depleting right now, as Table 2 shows the global reserves and remaining available years of major

energies. In the meantime, since of the impacts on environment caused by the application of traditional energies,

such as: green-house effect and environmental pollution, etc., so how to reduce the dependence on traditional energy

and the damage on our environment but, in the meanwhile, sufficient energy being able to supply to fulfill the needs

of both economics and livelihood, have become the biggest issue for human being. Renewable energies are

sustainable and clean energies, which may overcome the gradual depletion of traditional fossil energies that have

impacts on environment, and which may also solve the issues of energy sustainability, economical development, and

environmental protection, so the development and application of renewable energies had been accelerated in last

decade. Refer Table 3 and Table 4 for related analyses. Basically, low-carbon energyies, like RE and nuclear energy,

play an important role in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions in a country’s energy mix, while fossil energies, for

example, coal, oil, and natural gas, are on the contrary.

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Table 1. Energy source consumptions in major countries in 2015 (parenthesis means 2014) Unit: MTOE

Primary

energy Coal Oil Natural gas

Fossil energy

ratio (%)

RE ratio

(%)

Nuclear

ratio (%)

US 2,280.6 396.3 851.6 713.6 86.0 (86.3) 5.7 (5.4) 8.3 (8.2)

Germany 320.6 78.3 110.2 67.2 79.8 (82.2) 13.8 (11.7) 6.4 (7.0)

UK 191.2 23.4 71.6 61.4 81.8 (84.5) 9.8 (7.7) 8.3 (7.6)

China 3,014.0 1,920.4 559.7 177.6 88.2 (89.1) 10.5 (9.9) 1.3 (1.0)

Japan 448.5 119.4 189.6 102.1 91.7 (93.1) 8.1 (6.9) 0.2 (0)

Korea 276.9 84.5 113.7 39.2 85.7 (86.3) 0.8 (0.7) 13.5 (13.0)

Taiwan 110.7 37.8 46.0 16.5 90.6 (89.6) 1.8 (2.0) 7.5 (8.6)

Total

World 1,3147.3 3,839.9 4,331.3 3,135.2 86.0 (86.4) 9.6 (9.2) 4.4 (4.4)

Data sources: bp-statistical-review-of-world-energy-2016-full-report

Table 2. Global reserves and availability of primary energy resources (2015)

Category

Item

Oil

(billion barrels)

Natural Gas

(trillion cubic meters)

Coal

(billion tons)

Renewables

(MTOE)

Nuclear

(MTOE) Total Reserves 1,697.6 186.9 891.5 213,337* 47,600**

Yield 33.4 3.54 7.8 1,258 (1,341)* 583.1

Available Years 51 53 114 169 (159)* 82

Data sources: BP, *REN21, **IPCC

Table 3. Global power generation structure

Electricity generation

by energy resources

Installed capacity

(2015)

Electricy generation

(2014)

Electriciy emission

coefficient (2014, IPCC)

Carbon dioxide

emission

GW TWh g-CO2/kWh Mt

Coal 1,939 (2016, July) 8,726 820 7,155

Natural gas 1,311 (2010) 4,933 490 2,417

Oil ～509 1,068 778 831

Hydraupower 1,064 3,769 24 90

Wind power 433 700 11 8

Geotherml 13.2 207 38 8

Solar PV 227 167 48 8

Biomass 106 429 18 8

Nuclear 390 2,417 12 29

Summary 5,992 22,416 471 10,554

Data sources: REN 21, tsp-data-portal.org, WNA, Global Coal Plant Tracker, Power Magazine

Table 4. Electricity emission coefficients in major countries (2014)

Country

Fossil fuel

electricity ratio

(%)

RE electricity

ratio** (%)

Nuclear power

ratio (%)

Average electricity

emission coefficient***

(g-CO2 / kWh)

India 80 16 3 638

China 73 24 3 602

Saudi Arabia 100 0 0 600

Japan 86 14 0 557

Taiwan 79 4 16 521

Korea 69 2 29 496

US 72 8 20 494

Germany 57 27 16 442

United Kindom 63 18 19 424





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Russia 65 17 17 381

France 6 17 76 57

Global 66 24 11 471

Notes:

*Components that make up fossil fuel electricity include: coal, natural gas, and oil.

**Components that make up RE electricity include: hydraupower, wind power, geothermal, solar PV, and biomass,

etc.

***The electricity emission coefficient (g-CO2/kWh) represents the amount of CO2 emitted per kilowatt hour (kWh)

of power generated by the country's power plants.

Data sources: http://www.tsp-data-portal.org/Breakdown-of-Electricity-Generation-by-Energy-Source#tspQvChart,

IPCC

More than 97 percent of Taiwan's energy demand imports from abroad, and most from the Middle East that is

political instable, which is indeed the biggest worry of energy independence policy. For example, in 2015, Taiwan

imported 141.9 million kiloliters of oil equivalent (MKOE) energy under the expense of US$36.7 billion, accounting

for 7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) US$523.6 billion. These high prices of energies have enormous

impact on Taiwan’s economy, so the development of renewable energy becomes an only survival way for Taiwan.

The so-called renewable energies include solar energy (further including solar photovoltaics and solar thermal

energy), wind energy, hydropower, geothermal energy, ocean energies (such as: ocean thermal energy conversion,

tidal power, and wave energy, etc.), which are all natural energy resources coming from the sun or possessed by

earth, other renewable energies also including biomass energies, such as: waste energy, biogas electrification, and

biofuel, etc.

Although renewable energies are essentially exploited from nature, indigenous, and clean, and they are theoretically

inexhaustible and sustainable, in the applying characteristics of renewable energies, several drawbacks do exist, such

as: low energy density (in photovoltaic system, 9-10 m2 of installing area is needed for each kilowatt of power),

unstable supply (for example, clear day is the condition for solar electrification; for wind electrification, sufficient

wind resource must be existed, and wind turbine can only be started at a specific range of wind speed, while blades

must be stopped rotating when wind is too strong), and higher cost (for example, the installing expense for each

kilowatt of PV is 300 thousands NTD, and its electrification cost is about 15-24 NTD for each kilowatt-hour, and the

costs of other ways of RE electrification are also much higher than those of traditional ways of electrification). So,

when applying renewable energies, local conditions must be cooperated, such as: solar radiation, wind power

potential, available land area and suitable sites, etc., which must be assessed before installing any kind of renewable

energy system. Therefore, under these conditions of insufficiently economic impetus at present stage, the

development and promotion of each category of renewable energies must depend upon each individual incentive or

subsidizing scheme, by which a government may promote her corresponding RE policy in a much easier and

effective way.

THE ENERGY SUPPLY AND DEMAND SITUATION IN TAIWAN The total energy consumption in Taiwan, R.O.C. has grown greatly over the past two decades, going from 66.11

million kiloliters of oil equivalent in 1995 to 115.03 million kiloliters in 2015, which is an average annual growth of

2.81%. Of that in 2015, 78.21% was for energy use, and non-energy uses consumed 21.79%. When classified by

consumer, the consumption of energy for each sector in 2015 was as follows: energy and industrial sectors

consumed 43.67%; transportation sector, 11.90%; agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors, 0.91%; services sector,

11.03%; residential sector, 10.69%. Classified by form of energy, coal and coal products contributed 8.43% of

consumption in 2015; petroleum products provided 38.84%; natural gas shared 3.36%; biomass and waste accounted

for 0.18%; electricity constituted 48.89%; solar thermal 0.10% and heat 0.21%.

Electricity production grew from 133.1 TWh in 1995 to 258.0 TWh in 2015, an average annual increase of 3.36%.

Of the total electricity production in 2015, the hydro power of Taiwan Power Company comprised 2.87%, thermal

power 50.74% (coal shared 22.98%, oil 4.47%, LNG 23.29%), nuclear power 14.13%, wind power and solar

photovoltaic 0.29%, cogeneration 15.24%, and IPP 16.72%. Also, the peak load in 2015 reached a record 35,248

MW.

In 2015, the dependence on imported energy in Taiwan, R.O.C. was 97.53%; the value of energy imports was

US$36.7 billion, which was 42.87% less than the previous year; the per capita energy imports cost burden in 2015

was NT$50,542, which was a decrease of 40.19% compared with NT$84,508 in 2014.


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According to the aforementioned statistics, Taiwan's current energy structure is facing following three crises:

(1) Completely dependent energy supply - Taiwan imported more than 97 percent of energy demand from foreign

countries, and mostly from politically unstable Middle East, this is indeed a biggest worry in the policy of energy

independence.

(2) Serious greenhouse gas emissions – the greenhouse gas emissions per capita in 2013 Taiwan was 10.62 tonnes

carbon dioxide equivalent/person-year, 2.35 times the global per capita greenhouse gas emissions, namely, 4.52

tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent/person-year, ranking the world's top 20. The main cause is the excessive use of

fossil fuels, while fossil fuel combustion with carbon dioxide emissions is recognized as the main cause of the

greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, which in turn is the main cause of global climate change.

(3) Energy efficiency is too low - energy intensity was 0.13 thousand US dollars per tonne of oil equivalent in 2012

Taiwan, although lower than 0.22, 0.19, 0.15 of China, South Korea and the United States respectively, but still

higher than 0.11, 0.11, 0.09 of neighboring Japan, and the United Kingdom, Germany in Europe, and the more

important is that Taiwan’s energy intensity is still far higher than 0.10 of the global average. This shows the

structural mode of Taiwan’s energy supply and demand needs to be changed, at the same time, which directly

confirms the importance of energy conservation and energy efficiency to enhance the country's economic

competitiveness.

To solve the above-mentioned three major crises in Taiwan's energy mix. We recommend specific practices that

should have no more than the following 5 items, as depicted in Fig. 1, in which the responsive means for energy

saving and carbon reduction strategies are listed.

Fig. 1. Sustainable energy policy framework for Taiwan

• Clean sources: For the electricity sector on the supply side, low-carbon powers, such as renewable power, gas-fired

power, high-efficiency coal-fired power, and nuclear power, are used to achieve low carbon emissions.

Thereinafter, the proposed practices focus on the emerging power generation technologies.

• Consumption reduction: For major energy consumers, such as the industrial, transportation, residential and

commercial sectors, energy-saving technologies can achieve reductions in carbon emissions.

• The industrial sector: This sector is comprised of six energy-intensive industries: petrochemicals; semi-

conductors; iron and steel; cement; paper and pulp; and textiles. The deployment of the Best Available

Techniques (BAT) in these industries is a focus.





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• The transportation sector: The focus in this sector is on electrical vehicles, rail transport, high-efficiency vehicles,

and bio-fuels.

• The residential and commercial sector: The focus is on high-efficiency appliance, such as Light-Emitting Diode

(LED) and inverter Air Conditioning (AC).

ASSESSMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY RESERVES IN TAIWAN In fact, reserves of renewable energies in Taiwan should be quite rich, because there are plenty of remarkable

conditions as follows. First of all, Taiwan is located in subtropical area, in which the Tropic of Cancer passes

through central Taiwan, so the insolation time is long and the angle of daylight deflection is small, very suitable for

the development of solar energy. In addition, there are summer and winter monsoons along the western ring of

Pacific Ocean, making Taiwan Strait like a fast wind tunnel. Meanwhile, with the west coast stretching a large bank,

Taiwan has a great potential for offshore wind power generation. Particularly, with wind speed up to 7m/s and above

all year round, the area of Penghu is a wind field of high-quality. Potential of biomass energy can't be

underestimated either. Apart from wastes generated from livelihood of people, industry and agriculture, plenty of

energy crops can be used for producing biofuels. Particularly, the second generation of biomass crops, such as oil

algae and cellulose, won't lead to the food crisis. Because thousands of kilometers of coastal waters and the vast

majority of forest land can be used to farm or cultivate these energy crops, there are considerable potential with

respect to biomass energy in Taiwan. In the meantime, Taiwan located at the juncture of Eurasian Plate and

Philippine Sea Plate is also a part of the Ring of Fire series including the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia and other

countries, where geothermal energy has developed in grand occasion, so we can see that the development potential

of geothermal energy here in Taiwan should not be taken lightly. High mountain terrain and abundant rainfall

(annual average of about 90 billion tons) also provide considerable hydroelectric potential. At last, Taiwan is

surrounded by the ocean and is suitable for the development of marine energy. Not far from the east coast, the sea

water on the ocean surface is warn, but is ice-cold at the depth of thousands of meters, providing an excellent

location for ocean thermal energy conversion. With flow rate of 1 m/s and average width of 100 km, Kuroshio, part

of North Pacific circulation, turning north through the Philippines, passing by the eastern coast of Taiwan, finally

flowing north steadily throughout the year to Japan, is a huge momentum for Taiwan's ocean energy to develop

electricity generation with infinite potential.

Solar energy

Taiwan, a medium island in subtropical area, geographically located between east longitude 120 °-121 ° and north

latitude 22 °-25 °, is very in favor of the development of solar energy, due to the benefits of long duration of

insolation and small angle of daylight deflection. Solar energy not only can improve security of energy supply, but

also can immediately relieve the peak load of electricity. In Taiwan, during daytime of summer, the air conditioning

consumes a large amount of electricity, which can be supplied by PV facility powered by intensive solar radiation in

time. While natural conditions are good, land conditions are very inadequate for the installation of solar equipment

in Taiwan. Based on statistical data of Ministry of the Interior, the total population in Taiwan is about 23 million,

while the land area is approximately 36,000 km2, resulting in that the land area per capita is 1,560 m2/p. Second only

to Bangladesh, the population density of Taiwan is second highest in the world. Worse still, 2/3 of the island land is

mountain area, only 1/3 of land suitable for housing, which is concentrated in the south-west coast, making Taiwan

have great limitation in the area of land to install solar power facilities.

Regarding the mean estimates of the amount of insolation in Taiwan, first of all, under the provisions of land areas

of cities and counties by the Ministry of the Interior and the regional annual average amount of insolation by the

Central Weather Bureau , this paper adds the regional product of both the area and the amount of insolation for

hundreds of national land areas. Then, the sum is divided by the total country area; as a result, the average amount of

insolation per unit area per year in Taiwan is 1,130 kWh/m2-y = 129 W/m2 (the British average solar intensity

referred by MacKay [1] was 100 W/m2).

If large solar photovoltaic systems would be built in Taiwan, not only their equipment costs are still much higher

than the fossil energy equipment's, but also a major obstacle is incurred from the costs of a large area of land

required for the installation of PV farms (or large stand-alone systems). Therefore, in order to obtain operating

profits and value, the development of PV farm must be under the premise of no land cost.





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By the overall integration of the above types of data, the total reserve of solar energy (including solar thermal energy

2.28 GW and solar PV energy 74.2 GW) of rooftop-type in Taiwan is about 76.48 GW [2], so it can be said that the

solar energy in Taiwan is quite abundant.

Wind power

According to the investigation of NASA [3], the average density of wind power exceeds 750 W/m2 in the coastal

areas of Taiwan, so the conditions of the developments of wind power in Taiwan are fairly favorable. Although

wind power has the problem of poor stability, with the progress of storage technologies, the related issues are

expected to be addressed one by one.

With fewer and fewer areas available in land, the development of offshore wind farm on the sea is inevitable. Setting

up offshore wind farm on the sea can keep the people from the affects of noise or visual impact and avoid the high

land cost. At the same time, due to fewer obstructions, the wind on the sea surface has higher speed than the inland

area’s, in addition to smooth airflow and stability, so the overall availability of offshore wind farm is higher than

that of terrestrial wind farm. But, since involving marine works, the erection cost of the former is higher than that of

the latter. The cost of constructing offshore wind turbine is proportional with the sea depth. In waters less than 30 m

depth, pile- or gravity-typed base can be used as a wind turbine platform to reduce costs; in 30-60 m deep waters,

the three-legged truss is generally used as the pile or foundation of the wind turbine; while in the water depth of 60

m and above, a floating platform should be used as the wind turbine base. Although the United States has developed

a technology of deep-sea floating platforms for offshore wind turbine, making wind turbine able to be installed in

water area with depths of more than 200 m, there is still no actual measurement data seen in the open literatures yet.

To sum up, the potential installation capacity of wind power in both areas of land and sea in Taiwan is 4 GW and

73.5 GW respectively. The electricity generation per year is about 251.01TWh/year, which is not far off 258.02

TWh [4], the total electricity generated in 2015 Taiwan. Although wind still can not provide stable power under

current technology, with the advances of nano-materials technology to develop energy storage device in small

volume and with high energy density, the stability of wind power can be improved significantly in the future.

Biomass energy

In addition to wastes of industry, agriculture, forestry, urban and others, there is a wide range of biomass, and so are

the biomass crops of first generation, such as the sugar cane for ethanol and the rapeseed for biodiesel. The

population of Taiwan is so dense that the development potential of biomass can't be put on par with those of large

countries, such as Brazil, China and the United States. However, in addition to the global turmoil of energy saving

and carbon reduction at present, under the predicament of a large number of abandoned farmland in Taiwan, the

development of biomass not only can significantly enhance the security of energy supply and revitalize the

agricultural economy, but also can boost the technology of energy industry. The benefits are so rich that it is worthy

of careful assessment and planning.

As shown in Table 5, the total reserves of biomass energy can be obtained by orderly aggregating the energies from

the three categories: first generation of biomass crops, urban waste, and wastes of agriculture and forestry. The

reserves of biomass in Taiwan can provide Taiwanese with energy of 38,197.25 GWh/year, equivalent to the electric

power of 15,278.90 GWh/year. Among these three kinds of biomass, the wastes of agriculture and forestry possess

the highest amount of thermal energy, but also have relatively low cost, unlike biomass crops needing a huge

cultivation land. However, in order to be benefitted from economic effectiveness, the most important prerequisite is

that the power plant of high performance should be located in the vicinity of waste collection field, where the wastes

come from industry, agriculture, forestry or urban.

Table 5. Assessment of the total reserves of biomass energy in Taiwan

Reserves (GW) Equivalent Power (GWh/year)

Biomass Crops 0.86 3,022.2

Urban waste 1.07 1,208.88

Wastes of Agriculture and

Forestry 3.15 1,1047.82

Total Potential 5.08 15,278.90

Source: [2]

Ocean energy

Taiwan is surrounded by sea and has coastline of 1,500km or more. Therefore, lots of wave energy or tidal energy

may be reserved. This section assesses the reserves of these two kinds of energies.

Wave energy





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To be converted into electricity, the wave energy requires appropriate machinery. If Pelamis is considered as the

machinery to convert wave energy into electricity, in accordance with its operating curve, it is known that for waves

with period less than 5, the wave height of start must be greater than 1 m, and for waves with period between 5 and

13, the wave height of start must be greater than 0.5 m. Similarly to the distribution of the above calculation, if a

Weibull Distribution is adopted, then the total available power is 8,200 MW. If the generation efficiency of Pelamis

is supposed 50% [1], then the maximal electricity generated in one day is 100 GWh.

Tidal energy

The coasts in main island of Taiwan are mostly flat and sandy (e.g., the western coast) or rocky and straight (e.g.,

the eastern coast). In lack of the bay like Severn Estuary in the UK, it is not easy to build tidal pools in Taiwan. In

the meantime, the areas of abandoned or less-used harbors are too small to reserve large potential of tidal energy.

Although the tide in Penghu is not much (its average tide is 1.96 m), if Harbor Magong, a bay of rocky coast, is built

dam at the exit to intercept tide, then the reserve of tidal energy might have sufficient potential to explore, due to

economic benefit.

The detailed assessment is as follows.

The calculation of tidal energy is available in equation (1).

tAgHP ttt /)2

1(

2 (1)

where Ht is the tidal difference, At is the area of tide accommodated by reservoir, and t is the upping (or lowing)

time of tide (about 6 hours or 21,600 seconds in Penghu).

According to the calculation of equation (1), the tidal power provided by Harbor Magong during a high tide or low

tide is about 9 MW, where Ht is 1.958 m and At is 10 km2, and then the total energy reserved in one day is about

0.22 GWh. If the conversion efficiency of tidal generator is 0.9 (which is the highest efficiency only owned by

hydro-turbine of dam type) [1], then the available electricity generated in one day is 0.20 GWh.

If the tidal reservoir area further includes the periphery of Penghu Bay (i.e., Penghu Bay, Harbor Magong and Inner

Harbor Magong), the total area is expanded to about 70 km2. The generated power can be increased to 62 MW

during a high tide or low tide, and the produced energy in one day is up to 1.49 GWh. If the mechanical power

conversion efficiency is assumed 0.9, then the electricity generated in one day is 1.34 GWh.

In addition to Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu also have potential to develop tidal energy. According to the analysis of

literature [5], the tides of Kinmen and Matsu are about 3.8 m and 4.3 m respectively. If tidal dams are built at

southern outside of Liaoluo Bay of Kinmen and Beigan of Matsu, the areas of tide accommodated in the reservoirs

are approximately 40 km2 and 10 km2 respectively. And then from equation (1), the tidal power reserved in Kinmen

and Matsu are approximately 131 MW and 43 MW, and the energies produced in one day are about 3.14 GWh and

1.03 GWh. If the mechanical power conversion efficiency is supposed 0.9, then the electricity generated in one day

are 2.83 GWh and 0.93 GWh respectively.

To sum up the foregoing analyses, the total power reserved in above-mentioned three tidal waters in outer islands of

Taiwan is approximately 240 MW. The totally largest energy generated in one day is approximately 5.76 GWh. If

the mechanical power conversion efficiency is supposed 0.9, then the greatest sum of electricity produced in one day

is 5.10 GWh.

Geothermal energy

In the geological point of view, Taiwan is located on orogenic collision belt between Philippine Sea Plate and

Eurasian Plate, so the geology is easy to squeeze and collide, making the occurrence of earthquake be particularly

frequent. Meanwhile, the formation is also prone to faults and folds, so that rock layers are constantly uplifted and

broken. Furthermore, since rock is a material of low thermal conductivity, heat dissipation is not easy. With the

constant uplift of formation and geothermal accumulation in the long term, there is high geothermal gradient

resulted in the area of Central Mountain Range. Additionally, in northern Taiwan and eastern islands, large-scale

volcanic activity had been occurred; at present, although the volcanic activity is suspended, the hot magma is still

reserved under volcano.

In the view point of climate, since Taiwan is located at the edge of West Pacific Ocean, with the influences of

northeast monsoon in winter and the southwest monsoon and typhoons in summer, the average rainfall in one year is

2,500 mm and above. After rain falls down to ground, water flows along fissures or broken rock into ground and is

heated by geothermal gradient or hot magma, resulting in rich geothermal resources, so hot spring is an important





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feature of a geothermal system. From the present geothermal development of grand occasion in other neighboring

countries with the same geological and climatic conditions, such as the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, we can see

that the development potential of geothermal in Taiwan should not be underestimated.

Based on the long-term survey data [6] of Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), we organize the energy

reserves of the above six shallow geothermal areas, as listed in Table 6. Since the detailed data required in the

analysis of geothermal reserves are unavailable (e.g., temperature gradient of formation, distribution of rock geology

and groundwater hydrology changing with the seasons), this article directly uses the data [7] for the assessment.

Overall, the installation capacity of the possible development in these six main geothermal sites in Taiwan is

714MW. We adopt 90% as the utilization of geothermal power plants, then the annual geothermal power generation

potential in Taiwan is 714 MW × 8,760 h/y × 90% = 5.63 TWh/year.

Table 6. List of installation potential of geothermal power in six main sites of Taiwan.

Geothermal Sites Temperature Range

(℃)

Installation

Potential (MWe)

Power Potential

(GWh/year)

Chinsuei, Ilan 180-220 61 503.7

Tuchang, Ilan 160-180 25 167.9

Lushan, Nantou 150-210 41 335.8

Chihpen, Taitung 140-200 25 167.9

Kinglun, Taitung 140-180 48 419.8

Mt. Tatun, Taipei 200-290 514 4,029.6

Total Potential 714 5,624.65

Source: [7]

Hydro power

The average annual rainfall of Taiwan is about 800 million tons (or 2,500 mm) with hydro-power potential of about

22,725 MW [8]. Compared to the existing total installed capacity of 2,081.4 MW, the development proportion of

hydro power in Taiwan is very low. Most people believe that the development of reservoirs in Taiwan has reached

saturation, and it is unlikely that there will be any new reservoirs going to be developed. But in fact the

development of water resources should not be limited to the traditional large-scale reservoirs and should be extended

to various types of rivers capable of being set up small and medium sized turbines. This article will follow the

analytical methods of MacKay [1] in the hydro aspects of Taiwan. By combining the drainage area and rainfall data

[9] of 76 major rivers with terrain data of Taiwan [10], the information on the intersection of these two areas is

obtained. By cutting the entire Taiwan into dozens of regions, and under a grid computing precision of 800 m × 800

m, the averages of topography height and annual rainfall in each region are calculated. Finally, the products of each

two averages are summed up to get the estimated potential of hydro power.

In the estimation of terrain height, since current terrain map [9] is only divided into three regions, the resolution is

somewhat insufficient. In order to reduce the error of the estimation of average height, this paper adopts the data of

The Total Hydro-Census Report for Taiwan [8] to estimate the average height of the two regions of "100m~1,000m"

and "above 1,000m" to be 454m and 1,838 m, respectively. According to the data of literature [10], the average

height of the regions with height "below 100m" is about 25m (the heights of most regions of the western half are

between 0-50m). Regarding the estimates of the rainfall in various regions, this paper adopts the mean value of

variation amounts (for example, in rainfall range of 1000-2000mm, 1750mm is taken). In the regions with total

rainfall of 4,000 mm or more, because the upper limit is unknown and the area is very small, the upper limit of 4,000

mm is chosen.

From the results of calculation, it is known that the reserves energy of hydro power in Taiwan in one year is about

25,700 MW; namely, the energy available in one day is 6.17 × 108 kWh. If the mechanical efficiency of water

turbine is supposed 90 % [11], then the maximal electricity available per year is about 202,618.8 GWh. Since the

population of Taiwan is mostly concentrated in the region with height between 0-100 m, if this area is deducted

from the calculation procedure, then the annual maximum of hydro energy available in Taiwan is 201,396.05 GWh

and is then reduced to 140,952.05 GWh, if the evaporation of about 30% [12] is considered.

Summary of Taiwan’s RE reserve

According to the results of this assessment (as shown in Table 7), the reserves of renewable energies in Taiwan are

76.48 GW of solar energy, 77.5 GW of wind power, 5.08 GW of biomass, 8.44 GW of ocean energy, 0.7 GW of





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geothermal and 25.7 GW of hydro power. The total RE reserve is 193.9 GW, which is 4 times of 48.7 GW, the

national power capacity in 2015, so we can say that the reserves of renewable energies in Taiwan are quite abundant.

Table 7.Statistics of power potential of the (commercial) renewable energies reserved in Taiwan (unit: GW)

Solar*

(Thermal)

Solar*

(PV)

Wind**

(land)

Wind

(offshore) Biomass

Marine (Wave

+ Tide)

Geothermal

(shallow) Hydro Total

Reserves 2.28 74.2 4 73.5 5.08 8.44 0.7 25.7 193.9

Proportion 39% 40.0% 2.6 % 4.4 % 0.4 % 13.2% 100%

*rooftop-type only.

**open space on land, including rooftop and onshore.

Comparison of renewable energy reserves in all major countries

We search related sites for the relevant information of the reserves of renewable energy around the world and

organize them in Table 8, Table 9 and Table 10. The referred countries and regions are Denmark, Britain, Germany,

China, India, four states of the United States, and the world. We take kWh/d/p (the energy available per person per

day) as a unit of comparison, in order to avoid the loss of reasonability caused by differences of size of land area or

national population.

Table 8. Global renewables electricity generation status and potential

Electricity

generation by

energy

resources

Installed

capacity (2015)

Electricity

generation

(2014)

Global

reserves

Electric

generation

potential

Installed

capacity

potential

GW TWh EJ TWh GW

Hydropower 1,064 3,769 50 5,768 1,586

Wind power 433 700 401 24,057 12,716

Geothermal

(2013) 12 76 45 9,037 1,427

Solar PV 227 167 1,693 50,652 53,685

Biomass and

Waste 106 445 344 48,061 10,908

CSP 5 7 992 49,600 31,456

Total 1,847 5,164 3,525 187,175 111,778 Data sources: REN 21, tsp-data-portal.org

Table 9. List of the reserves of renewable energy of the countries or regions around the world in term of installed

capacity of electricity generation.

Item Country (or region) Renewable energy reserves density

(W/p) Description

1 Denmark [13] 3,386.0 Population: 5.4 million

2 The U.K.

A.[14] 1,438.6 Population: 5.4 million

East Region, England

B.[1] 7,318.3 Population: 60.9 million

The U.K.

3 Germany [15, 16] 788.1 Population: 82 million

Excluding ocean energy

4 China [13] 1,644.2 Population: 1321.29 million

5 India [17] 126.7

Population: 1,200 million

Potential of total installation

capacity: 152,000 MW

6 California [18] 635.6

Population: 38 million

Potential of total installation

capacity: 24,153 MW

(including 9,153 of pump





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storage)

7 Massachusetts

[19]

2,581.2 (theoretical value)

548.8 (technically feasible) Population: 6.5 million

8 Florida [20] 287.3 Population: 14.6 million

9 Arizona [21] 458.7

Population: 3.6 million

Consider the technical

feasibility of 2025’s target

10 Taiwan 8,430.4 Refer Table 7

11 World 18,629

Population: 6 billion

Global reserves: 111,778

GW (Table 8)

Table 10. List of the reserves of renewable energy of the countries or regions around the world in term

ofelectricity generation (kWh) per person per year.

Item Country (or

Region)

Renewable Energy Reserves

(kWh/d/p) Description

1 Denmark [13] 81.2 Population: 5.4 million

2 The U.K.

A.[14] 34.5 Population: 5.4 million

East Region, England

B.[1] 175.5 Population: 60.9 million

The U.K.

3 Germany [15,16] 18.9 Population: 82 million

Excluding ocean energy

4 China [13] 39.43 Population: 1321.29 million

5 India [17] 1.22

Population: 1,200 million

Biomass: 19,500 MW

Solar: 20,000 MW

Wind: 47,000 MW

Small hydro: 15,000 MW

Marine: 50,000 MW

Total: 152,000 MW

6 California [18] 6.1

Population: 38 million

Potential of the total installation

capacity: 24,153 MW (including 9,153

of pump storage)

7 Massachusetts

[19]

61.9 (theoretical value)

13.16 (technically feasible)


Installation potential:

41,900 MW(theoretical value)

8,700-12,900 MW(technically feasible)

8 Florida [20] 9.89


Installation potential: 52700 GW

(Consider the technical feasibility of

2020’s target)

9 Arizona [21] 11.0


Consider the technical feasibility of

2025’s target

10 Taiwan 78.03 kWh/d/p Table 14

11 World 85.47 kWh/d/p Population: 6 billion

Global reserves: 187,175 TWh (Table 8)

TAIWAN’S CURRENT STATUS OF RE DEVELOPMENT Taiwan, Republic of China, with land area of 36,190 km2 and population of 22.6 millions, has the world 2nd highest

population density, i.e. 625 capita per km2. Over the last two decades, the rapid economic growth has created





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substantial changes in the economic structure: GDP rose from US$52.4 billion to US$295.9 billion, and per capita

BNP increased from US$2,832 to US$13,157, with average growth rate of 6%. 67% of GDP is now from service

sector vs. 48% in 1983.

According to the data of BOEMOEA [4], also as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the installing status of renewable

energies in Taiwan for 2015 is described as followings: 2,084.9 MW (4.29%) for hydropower generation; 646.7

MW (1.33%) for wind power generation; 842 MW (1.73%) for photovoltaic system; 740.4 MW (1.52%) for

biomass/waste electrification; the aforementioned data summation is 4,318.6 MW, share of which is 8.87% of the

national power capacity in 2015. In the meantime, during 1995–2015, as Fig. 2 shows, the average annual growth

rate for total installed power capacity is 3.59%, while average annual growth rate for power peak load is 3.2%. It is

obvious that rapid economic progress is followed by higher energy demand during the last two decades in this

country.

Compared the rest of Southeast Asia, Taiwan equals Southeast Asian nations in terms of developing biomass energy

and hydropower. Notably, hydropower is the most popular renewable energy in the region. Geothermal energy

enjoys high application in certain countries as well, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan (not shown in the

table), all of which are located at fault-lines along the Pacific Rim, Taiwan should share the same geographic

advantage in terms of developing geothermal energy. Furthermore, significant potential also exists in Taiwan to

develop solar energy and wind power, respectively, given that it is a subtropical island adjacent to a famous “wind

tunnel” in the form of the Taiwan Strait.

Fig. 2. Power generation installed capacity in Taiwan from 1995 to 2015





[411]

Fig. 3. Power infrastructure including RE for 2015 Taiwan

The economic realities are reflected in the status of different development strategies in Taiwan. For example, solar

water heater has enjoyed successful development and achieved a strong international reputation, yet the

development of PV remains very limited. On the other hand, wind power and biomass energy have been prioritized

in government planning. Finally, owing to environmental considerations and the relatively high production costs,

small hydro power and geothermal power projects have received little development attention.

Solar Thermal Energy

In Taiwan, the only commercially available solar thermal product is solar water heater (SWH), of which 98% is used

for domestic purpose. Taiwan is a subtropical island located between the latitudes of 22 and 25° North and the

longitudes of 120 and 121° East. Annual sunshine is in the range of 1,500~2,200 hours for most parts of the island,

and even reaching 2,500 hours in the southernmost region. The average solar irradiance in Taiwan is 716~1,027

kJ/day·m2, and thus solar energy resources in Taiwan are so abundant as to make the development of solar energy

extremely practical compared to most location around the world.

To encourage more people to install solar water systems, according to “Solar Water Heaters Incentives”

implemented by the BOEMOEA for 2016. The subsidizing rate is based upon type and area of collectors installed in

a solar hot-water system, as follows:

■ Glazed Flat-Plate Collector: 2,000 NT dollars per square meter;

■ Evacuated-Tube Collector: 2,000 NT dollars per square meter;

■ Unglazed Flat-Plate Collector: 1,250 NT dollars per square meter;

These rates are applicable to users on the main island of Taiwan. On the smaller islands there is an

additional subsidy of 1,000 NT dollars per square meter owing to the additional transportation expenses. Generally,

the subsidy covers 15%~20% of the total cost of a solar hot-water system (including installation cost). Since the

launch of this incentive scheme, the number of SWHs installed has increased markedly. The accumulated area of

solar collectors installed reached 2.37 million square meters at the end of 2013. Approximately 560 thousand

families have installed SWH in Taiwan, representing an installation rate of around 6.65%; that is, 6.65% of families

have installed SWH. Solar water heaters thus are the most notable success story in RE development in Taiwan.

According to International Energy Agency (IEA) data for 2013, Taiwan was ranked the 19th market with 85 MWth

of annually newly installed capacity, the 19th country with 1,082 MWth of cumulated installed capacity, and the 20th

country with glazed collector installation density of 46.4 W/p for SWH in the world [22]. According to BOEMOEA,

the collector installed density is 52.63 square meters per square kilometer of land area, ranked fifth in the world. The

annual energy and environmental contributions of SWH for Taiwan are 940GWh in energy generation, 101,082 toe

in energy saving, and 326,767 tco2 in GHG emissions reduction [22].

Currently, Taiwan has a sophisticated SHW industry, comprising: 30 manufactures, 200 retailers, and 1,000

employees, with annual sales of 100 thousand square meters, equivalent to 20 million US dollars or ten thousand

new users. Notably, 96% of qualified installers/dealers are located in western Taiwan. Out of the 241 qualified

products, 148 are assembled by installers themselves. As shown in Fig. 4, metallic (stainless or copper) flat-plate





[412]

solar collectors account for 78% of SWHs, with the remaining 22% being evacuated-tube collectors. Almost all

metallic flat-plate solar collectors are produced domestically, while some evacuated tube absorbers are imported.

Most SWHs are permanently connected to an auxiliary electric heater.

Fig. 4. Solar hot-water systems in Hualien County Hualien Academy for 115 students (Metallic collector

installation area: 77 square meters)

Solar Photovoltaics

Taiwan is located in a subtropical region. Sunlight can be considered one of the most abundant resources in the

country. The Tropic of Cancer passes through Central Taiwan; therefore, with long hours of sunlight and a small

angle of sunlight deflection, sunshine is plentiful.In recent years, the standard of living of the Taiwanese people has

increased, and the peak load during summer months has been increasing annually. This has caused a potential supply

shortage crisis in Taiwan's power market, leading to policies of brownouts or rolling blackouts. If the power

generation characteristics of PV systems could match the peak demand in the Taiwan area, this would assist in

alleviating peak loads.

In recent years, the requirements for reducing CO2 emissions and ensuring energy security have driven Taiwan

government to move forward in promoting the development of renewable energy. Relying on the unquestionable

benefits of solar PV systems and Taiwan's geographical location in a low-latitude zone, Taiwan's government is

strongly promoting the development of solar PV energy. In particular, Taiwan's government has actively

implemented a variety of policies, laws, regulations, projects, and subsidy operations for promoting solar PV energy

development since 2000.

"Nuclear-free Homeland" is the primary energy policy of the new government in Taiwan. It is estimated that the

installed capacity of solar energy will be as high as 20GW(73%) in the plan of 20% renewable energy power

generation in 2025. The PV installation capacity target was established as 842MW, 1,342MW, 8,776MW, and

20,000MW in 2015, 2016, 2020, and 2025, respectively, as shown in Table 11.

Table 11.Actively promote the objectives of installed capacity (MW)

Energy sources/year 2015 2016 2020 2025

Solar PV 842 1,342 8,776 20,000

Wind power (on shore) 647 747 1,200 1,200

Wind power (off shore) 0 8 520 3,000

Geothermal 0 1 150 200

Biomass 741 742 768 813

Hydropower 2,089 2,089 2,100 2,150

RE in total 4,319 4,929 13,514 27,363

Data source: BOEMOEA

In order to promote PV installation capacity and foster the development of PV industry, Taiwan's government has

actively implemented a variety of policies, laws, regulations, projects, and subsidy operations. In the late 1990s,





[413]

Taiwan's government started to subsidize the application of PV and large applications of PV in public infrastructural

projects (Fig. 5, Fig. 6), with tax exemptions, financial assistance and subsidies for purchasing electricity.

To cooperate with local governments to promote solar photovoltaic (PV) cluster system in the community, MOEA

released the "MOEA Subsidy Directions for the development of Solar Community" on March 5, 2013. This program

aims to stimulating local government to develop solar PV community with local characteristics by providing cables,

grid connection and promotion subsidies, and building up PV cluster demonstrations to achieve the vision of the

“Million Rooftop PVs project."

Fig. 5 Installed capacity of solar PV for Taiwan from 2000 to 2015

Fig. 6 Presidential Hall demonstration system (10.5 kW)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Solar PV installed capacity (MW)





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Fig. 7. Global market share of PV cells by major countries

Sources: IEA-PVPS and Earth Policy Institute

Since Taiwan has a strong foundation in semiconductor production, it was not surprising when the government

announced that it would prioritize the development of solar power, which utilizes semiconductors in its solar cells.

Regarding the PV industry, there are several internationally famous companies focused on different products in

Taiwan, including Sino-American Silicon Products Inc. for silicon wafer, Gintech (660MW), Motech (470MW), E-

Ton Solar (320MW), and Neo Solar Power (240MW) as the top 4 solar cell manufactures based on capacity in 2015,

and Photonic Energy Semiconductor Co. Ltd. for modular packagee. The global maket shares of PV cells by major

countries are shown in Fig. 7. These companies have constructed a complete manufacturing chain for the PV

industry in Taiwan.

Fig. 8. Breakdown of production volume by Taiwanese solar cell manufacturers in 2014.

From data of Energy Trend [23], Taiwan PV industry ranks number two worldwide with PV solar cell production

volume over 10GW with 20% annual growth rate in 2014. Taiwan has a complete PV industry supply chain.

Developing high efficiency and low cost technology is the key strategy to increase competiveness. As shown in Fig.

8, the top 3 solar cell manufactures account for 53% of Taiwan production volume in 2014. The important indicators

of Taiwan PV industry is shown in Table 12.





[415]

Table 12. The important indicators of Taiwanese PV industry (2012-2016)

Item Unit 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016(e)

Number of manufacturers Manufacturer 92 90 89 86 89

Output value Million USD 3,255 4,598 5,607 5,332 5,632

GDP Contribution % 0.03 0.19 0.17 0.16 0.18

Number of employees Employee 12,500 17,000 18,400 18,500 19,000

Data sources: IEK, ITRI, Taiwan.

Wind Energy

As described in Table 7, Taiwan is estimated to have wind power potential of 4,000 megawatts on land and 73,500

megawatts at sea. Wind energy has been aggressively promoted in Taiwan since 2000. Through resource survey,

technical guideline, research and investigation, demonstration and subsidies, both the Taipower and IPPs had

invested onshore wind farms construction in the last decade. As depicted in Fig. 9, by the end of July 2016, with 30

windfarms on land, a total of 341 large-scale onshore wind turbines had been erected with a total installed capacity

of 670.6 MW (BOEMOEA, http://www.twtpo.org.tw/).

Fig. 9. Installed capacity of wind power for Taiwan from 2000 to 2015.

To accelerate the development of offshore wind power industry in Taiwan, MOEA announced the “Directions for

Encouraging Offshore Wind Power System Demonstration Measures” in July 2012. Two IPPs (Fuhai Wind Farm

Corp. and Formosa Wind Power Co. Ltd.) and a state-owned power company (Taipower, Fig. 10) were selected as

main forces to execute the measures in January 2013. The output value of Taiwanese wind power industry was

increased to 515.6 million USD in 2016 from 247.9 million USD in 2012. After years of development, the industrial

chain in Taiwan’s wind power industry has been gradually completed with about 70 suppliers from up- to down-

streams. There are dozens of raw materials and parts/components suppliers. TECO is the only large-scale wind

turbine manufacturer in the domestic, while a dozen or so manufacturers supply small and medium wind turbines.

The important indicators of Taiwanese wind power industry is shown in Table 13.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Wind power installed capacity (MW)





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Fig. 10. Taiwan Power Company Penghu wind power (Installed capacity: 600kW x 8)

Table 13. The important indicators of Taiwanese wind power industry (2012-2016)

Item Unit 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016-e

Number of manufacturers Manufacturer 47 50 55 65 70

Output value Million USD 247.9 289.2 366.5 476.0 515.6

GDP Contribution % 0.007 0.009 0.01 0.018 0.018

Number of employees Employee 700 750 780 800 820

Data sources: IEK, ITRI, Taiwan.

After the government began promoting offshore wind power development since 2013 as shown in Fig. 11, an

increasing number of enterprises have been planning and involving in the offshore wind power services, including,

wind farm development, submarine cable and offshore infrastructure construction, and wind turbine installation and

maintenance.

Fig. 11. Planned locations for the offshore wind farms along the western costs of Taiwan.

Looking into the future, under the execution of “Thousand Wind Turbines Project”, a market scale up to 500 billion

NTD is expected in 2030. The strategies to develop Taiwanese wind energy including the short-, medium-, and

long-term targets: (1) introduce foreign technology to complete a first demo offshore wind power system in Taiwan

Strait; (2) implement the wind power system independently developed by Taipower to establish the local marine

engineering capacity and accomplish the demo offshore wind farm; (3) with a cumulative 1,200 MW and 520 MW





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installed wind power capacity respectively for onshore and offshore by 2020; (4) by 2025 with accumulated

installed capacities of 3GW and 1.2GW respectively for offshore and onshore wind farms, and over 1,000 wind

turbines installed with 4.2GW capacities, by then, more than 15.35% of Taiwan’s renewable energy installation will

be shared by wind turbine; and (5) build Taiwan’s wind power manufacture and service industries to construct the

down-, middle-, and up-stream chain by 2030.

Biomass Energy

Biomass energy is widely used in Taiwan, including biogas (methane) from animal waste and fuel energy from the

burial, gasification, breaking-down, and fermentation of household, industrial and agricultural garbage. Since

biomass energy makes a dual contribution to energy supply and environmental protection, it is generally recognized

as one of the most popular renewable energies in the world, comprising approximately two thirds of total renewable

energy use. The development potential of biomass energy in Taiwan is approximately 3 Mtoe, representing

approximately 40% of total RE potential.

As described in Table 7, the total reserves and equivalent power generation of Taiwan’s biomass are 5.08 GW and

15,278.90 GWh/year. Both energy productions account most supply of the national renewables. As shown Fig. 12,

the main biomass energy resources are landfill gas and waste incineration, which have total electricity generation

capacity of 629.1 MW (at the end of 2015) in more than 70 installed sites. A “Waste Energy Application

Technology Development and Promotion Project” was initiated from 1999, in which the priorities of RD&D are

waste energy applications, such as landfill gas, gasification, liquefaction and refuse derived fuel (RDF). Currently,

the installed biomass power is total 740 MW in Taiwan, with municipal solid waste incineration 625 MW, biogas

19MW, and waste from industry and agriculture 97MW, as shown in Table 14. Meanwhile, the technical

development of RDF is gradually matured. Solid RDF (Fig. 13) made from waste has the following advantages: high

thermal value, uniform-and-stable property, ease of control and low pollution when burning, ease of transportation

and storage, able to be used in boilers of power generation and co-generation, small environmental impact, high

energy recycling efficiency, etc. RDF technology currently has been transferred from ITRI to industry to establish

factories to convert ordinary waste into useful fuel. Furthermore, a demonstration urban RDF system was

established in ITRI for the purposes of research and promotion. On the other hand, technologies of waste

liquefaction and gasification have also been developed to convert waste into compound fuel or syngas (e.g., H2, CO,

and CH4, etc.) that may be provided as the fuels of boiler and generator to generate steam and electricity, such that

the goals of environmental protection, waste self-management and clean production may be fulfilled. Presently,

specific technologies of solid waste energy have been developed successfully in ITRI, for example rice husk

gasification and waste Styrofoam liquefaction, which have been granted as patents and transferred to industry.

In the future, more aggressive promotion of goals will focus on developing more advanced technologies, including

alcohol gasoline, organic hydrogen production, energy crop, forest resource, bio-diesel, etc. As shown in Fig. 14, the

current biomass power capacity in Taiwan is about 111.3 MW.

Fig. 12. Installed capacity of waste for Taiwan from 1994 to 2015.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

19

94

19

95

19

96

19

97

19

98

19

99

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

Waste power installed capacity (MW)





[418]

Table 14.Agricultural and livestock wastes in 2014

Total production Unit of waste Total waste

Rice 1,600 tonnes 86 kg/tonne 137.6 tonnes

Sugar 500 tonnes 250 kg/tonne 125 tonnes

Pig 8 millions 2.4 kg/head/day 7 million tonnes

Poultry 370 millions 0.15kg/head/day 20.2 million tonnes

Source: [24]

Fig. 13.Solid waste derived fuel manufactured by ITRI

(1 cm in diameter, 5 cm long; calorific value of approximately 6,200 kcal / kg)

Fig. 14. Installed capacity of biomass for Taiwan from 1994 to 2015.

Geothermal Energy

Taiwan lies on a major geological fault-line along the Pacific Rim, and has abundant geothermal resources. A

comprehensive exploration estimates that Taiwan has total geothermal potential of up to 714 MW. However, most

of the geothermal resources in Taiwan are located in remote areas, making their exploitation difficult. The

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

19

94

19

95

19

96

19

97

19

98

19

99

20

00

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01

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02

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06

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07

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08

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09

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10

20

11

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

Bio-power installed capacity (MW)





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economically and technically feasible exploitation potential is only about 150 MW. The target for geothermal

utilization is 200 MW by 2025.

Unlike solar energy and wind power, the application of geothermal energy is not influenced by weather conditions

and its stable output can provide a base load for power generation. Nowadays, the main application of geothermal

energy is electricity generation, the cost of which is still higher than that of traditional generation methods.

However, following electricity generation, the remaining hot water may be further utilized for multiple functions,

including recreational spas, swimming pool, greenhouse horticulture and agriculture, air conditioning and so on,

thus extracting additional economic value from the process. On the other hand, to avoid the gradual depletion of

geothermal resources due to excessive extraction, most hot water after being used may be injected back to

geothermal reservoirs, thus prolonging the operating life of the resource.

Geothermal resources can be classified into volcanic and non-volcanic types, with the former being hotter but more

acid than the latter. Domestic geothermal resources are mostly non-volcanic, and are located in mountains and on

small islands, making access difficult. Geothermal resources with easy access and high potential will be prioritized

for development. The most promising one is the Chinsuei geothermal energy project (located at Yi-Lan County, as

shown in Fig. 15), which will be developed by the local government using a BOT (Build, Operate, and Transfer)

method, and for which technical planning and research will be provided by experienced R & D groups authorized by

BOEMOEA. Besides electricity generation, the hot water will be further utilized to make the project become a

demonstration system with multiple functions. The project has planned capacity of 1,000 kW, sufficient to supply

electricity for about 340 families.

Fig. 15. Chinsuei geothermal energy project, 3MW, single flash-steam

Hydropower

Presently, most hydropower plants with large water dams are operated by the Taiwan Power Company. At the end

of 2015, the total installed capacity of hydropower in Taiwan was approximately 2,089.4 MW, of which 1,745 MW

is contributed by plants with capacity exceeding 20 MW (excluding 2,602.0 MW pump storage hydropower).

According to a survey, Taiwan has about 5,160 MW of technically feasible hydropower potential, about half of

which is considered economically viable. Hopefully around 2,502 MW can be exploited by 2030, with

approximately 300 MW being small hydropower (SHP) plants, each with capacity of less than 20 MW; that is, they

can be considered renewable energy, for example, flow-through type hydropower, as shown in Fig. 16. Currently,

the total installed capacity of operational SHP plants is around 166 MW.

In Taiwan, the application of large-scale dam is concentrated in agricultural irrigation and domestic water supply,

with electricity generation generally regarded as an auxiliary use. For example, in 2015, the total generation output

of hydropower in Taiwan was just 7,505.1 million kWhs, equivalent to 1,603 hours of full-loading time. That is, the

full-loading efficiency of hydropower in Taiwan is only 18.3%, much lower than the 60~70% average efficiency of

nuclear or fossil fuel electrification. Most of the cost of hydro plant establishment goes to civil engineering for dam

construction. Furthermore, most plants are located in remote mountain areas, which have high development costs

and investment risks. However, a large-scale hydropower plant may have a useful lifetime of over 30 years,





[420]

something unachievable by other generation methods. Considering the benefits in terms of both water supply and

electricity generation, large-scale hydropower plants are actually the cheapest renewable energy option.

Hydropower is a clean, indigenous energy resource. However, due to disputes involving the ecological and

environmental issues created by large-scale dam construction, the development of large-scale hydropower is

inevitably difficult. However, SHP plants are also worth developing, and besides having less environmental impact

also offer such advantages as short set-up time, easy maintenance, and low investment and operational costs. In

Taiwan, most SHP resources are located in national parks, so careful evaluation is necessary and solutions must be

sophisticatedly prepared before exploring and exploiting these resources.

Fig. 16. Low head flow-through hydro power demonstration plant in Houli, Taichung

(Photo Source: Taiwan Provincial Taichung Irrigation Association)

PROMOTION STRATEGIES FOR REWABLE ENERGIES IN TAIWAN Although the results of the assessment point out that Taiwan has abundant renewable energy resources, the four

inherent shortcomings-low energy density, high cost of power generation, instability of power supply, and current

cost of renewable energy being still higher than that of fossil energy-have to be overcome first, before renewable

energy is actually formed as a main component in national energy mix. The measures executed by government to

break through these barriers further include the upgrade of the technological level, the formulation of the necessary

policies, and the work together from all levels for the overall promotion.

Based on Energy Statistics Manual in 2015 published by Bureau of Energy of Ministry of Economic Affairs, the

national energy structure in supply side is still mainly comprised of fossil fuels, such as coal and coal products

(29.33%), crude oil and petroleum products (48.18%), natural gas (13.29%), etc. Produced by burning fossil fuels,

greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide) have been identified as the main cause for global climate change, while

emissions in Taiwan in 2015, a total of approximately 250.50Mt (million tonne) of carbon dioxide, accounting for

about 0.78% of global emissions, with annual growth rate of 3.37% since 1990, is really shocking. Renewable

energy is considered non- or less-polluting sustainable energy, but the proportion of renewable energy on supply

side in Taiwan is still very low only 1.92%, in which, 1.39% for biomass and waste, 0.29% for conventional hydro

power, 0.16% for PV and wind power,and 0.08% for solar thermal. In addition, since most of fossil fuels are

imported from abroad, and mostly from the political instable countries in the Middle East or Southeast Asia, security

of energy supply is a major worry for Taiwan. To solve above problems, the development of renewable energy may

be the necessary measures.

Prior to the Renewable Energy Development Bill enacted in 2009, the central competent authority in Taiwan has

adopted subsidiary incentives to promote renewable energy development. However, accelerating the sustainable

energy in a time-table way is the vital aim of the Bill, which mandates the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) policy for renewable

electricity generated from specified sources, especially in solar PV power and wind power. The FiT policy

prescribed by the Bill contains four implementation elements, including subsidy target for renewable electricity, FiT

rate setting mechanism, government procurement by state-owned power company, and mandatory grid connection.

In Taiwan, the calculation formula of FiT for renewable electricity are based on the relative factors of generation





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equipment, including installation cost, operation and maintenance (O&M) cost, operating years, annual power

generation, capital recovery factor, reasonable profit rate, and other factors such as inflation rate and insurance fee.

Based on the levelized cost approach, the central competent authority announced the calculation formula for setting

FiT rates in each year:

FiT= Initial installation cost × Capital reduction factor + Annual operation and maintenance cost

Annual electricity sale

wherein:

Capital reduction factor =Average cost of capital × (1 + Average cost of capital)Purchase period

(1 + Average cost of capital)Purchase period − 1

Annual operation and maintenance cost = Initial installation cost ×

ratio of annual operation and maintenance cost in initial installation cost

In Table 15, the feed-in tariffs (FiT) for various categories of renewable electricity production in Taiwan effective in

2016 was listed.

Table 15. RE FiT for 2016 Taiwan

RE category Classification Capacity grade FiT (Yuan1/kWh)

Solar photovoltaic Roof type

Between 1 kW and 20 kW 6.4813



More than 500 kW 4.6679

Ground type 1 kW or above 4.6679

Wind

Land type

Between1 kW and 20 kW 8.5098

20 kW or above With LVRT2 2.8099

Without LVRT 2.7763

Offshore type Without distinction

Fixed 20 Years FiT 5.7405

Cascade

FiT

First 10

Years 7.1085

Last 10

Years 3.4586

Stream-type

hydraulic Without distinction Without distinction 2.9078

Geothermal energy Without distinction Without distinction 4.9428

Biomass

Without anaerobic

digestion equipment Without distinction

2.7174

With anaerobic

digestion equipment 3.9211

Waste Without distinction Without distinction 2.9439

Other Without distinction Without distinction 2.7174

1. 32.5 NTD = 1 USD

2. LVRT (Low Voltage Ride Through)

Source: organized by the study.

To meet aforementioned targets set for the development of RE in Taiwan in both near and long terms (Table 11),

BOEMOEA has addressed three executive principles as following:

(1) Building up the framework for renewable energy development

Establishing a sustainable environment based on the enactment of “Renewable Energy Development Bill”.

Adjusting the premium tariffs for renewable energies and rationalizing prices of fossil fuels by counting

their external costs.

Removing the obstacles in grid connection and power transmission to promote the power generation from





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renewable energy sources.

(2) Assisting the development in renewable energy industries

Enlarging the renewable energy market to encourage related industries and improve technology capability.

(3)Strengthening R&D

Accomplishing the targets by improving renewable energy technologies.

According to the framework and contents of “Renewable Energy Development Bill” enacted by Executive Yuan, the

essence of promotion strategies for renewable energies in Taiwan can be summarized as follows.

(1) In the medium term, the renewable energies shall contribute 20%, in terms of national power by 2025.

(2) Wind and solar PV technologies are relatively mature and will be the major renewable energies in the near

and long terms. Meanwhile, the government shall continue to promote other renewable energies such as

geothermal, biomass, hydropower and ocean energy to utilize renewable resources in all aspects.

(3) Solar photovoltaic (PV) product is booming in current energy market worldwide. The promotion of PV shall

focus on strengthening R&D capability and developing related industries for cost reduction.

(4) Taiwan has greatest potential in developing offshore wind power. Its capacity will be established from zero

to 3GW in the next 10 years.

(5) In the long term, the ratio of renewable energy to total power supply is projected to increase from 5.24% in

2015 to 20% in 2025.

Since 2000, sustainable power generation in Taiwan remarkably increased in response to the trends of global

warming mitigation and renewable electricity development. One of the significant milestones in the reform of the

electricity industry in Taiwan could be said to have been implemented in 2009 when the central government

promulgated the Renewable Energy Development Bill. Under the authorization of the Bill, the FiT scheme was

adopted to encourage the deployment of renewable electricity systems for the purpose of selling their surplus

electric power at a profitable rate to the local power company. During the period of 2000–2015, the renewable

electricity from PV power and wind power systems in terms of total installed capacity in Taiwan have rapidly

increased from 2.7 MW in 2000 to 1,488.7 MW in 2015.

However, the growth rate of renewable electricity systems in terms of total installed capacity seemed to show a

steady increase since 2008, mainly due to the decreasing trend in domestic investments by the industrial and energy

sectors. As a result, the central competent authority in Taiwan has adopted subsidiary programs starting from 2013

to promote the development of renewable electricity technologies, including rooftop-type PV power, off-shore wind

power and biogas-to-power.

To encourage the investment in renewable electricity system as an emerging industrial development and a measure

for the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions, and also achieve the government goal (i.e., total installed capacity

reached 27,363MW in 2025, as compared to 4,319MW in 2015), the following measures are recommended and

enhanced:

(1) Actively promote renewable energy development, serve to enhance energy independence, reduce carbon

dioxide emissions, and enhance energy supply resiliency. Set more aggressive targets, including specific

measures to promote "Thousand Wind Turbines" and "Million Rooftop PVs", to achieve the goal of 27,363

MW installed capacity of renewable energy by 2025, accounting 20.0% of national total power generation from

5.24% in 2015.

(2) Learn from Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster experience, and examine the domestic nuclear safety and energy

policy by increasing the amount of renewable energy and reducing dependence on nuclear power. Forecast to

2025, renewable energy power generation will be increased to 20.0% national power generation by 2025 from

5.24% in 2015.

(3) The promotion of all types of renewable energy depends on the ministries that will actively assist the relevant

regulations and administrative procedures, simplify administrative operations, improve overall system and

create a favorable environment for RE development.

(4) Continue to carry out research and development of renewable energy to enhance the development of renewable

energy technologies and reduce set-up costs; and develop large-scale smart grid and energy storage systems,

strengthening the power grid building, to reduce the impact of energy on the grid of the regeneration setting.

(5) Establish a review mechanism from the implementation date of renewable energy development regulations up

to 20 years, a review every two years, depending on the technology development process, and regularly adjust

the percentage of each class of renewable energy development goals.





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SUMMARY

All in all, the theoretical reserves, current status, and promotion strategies for RE in Taiwan are summarized in Fig.

17, Table 16, and Table 17. In Table 16, the corresponding electric energy reserves are listed, wherein the total

reserved power generation 655.06 TWh/year is 2.54 times of 258.02TWh, the national power generation in 2015 [4].

Table 16.Statistics of power potential of the renewable energies reserved in Taiwan (unit: TWh/year).

Solar* Wind Biomass Marine Geothermal Hydro Total

Reserves 203.75 251.01 15.28 38.45 5.62 140.95 655.06

Proportion 31.3 % 38.3 % 2.3 % 5.9 % 0.8 % 21.5 % 100%

*include: rooftop, 1% public land, reclamation land.

Solar (76.48) Hydro (25.7)

Garbage

incineration (0.21)

Agricultural and

forestry waste (3.15) Algae oil

(13.8) Wind (77.5)

Kuroshio (30)

Ocean thermal

(10.0) Wave (8.2)

Geothermal (15.54)

Biomass crop

(6.38) Tide (0.24)

(Unit: GW)

Fig. 17 Distributions of various types of renewables reserves in Taiwan area (including 2nd generation biomass,

deep geothermal, algae oil, ocean thermal, Kuroshio, etc.)





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Table 17. Current status, targets and promotion strategies for RE in Taiwan

Current status

(2015) Targets Promotion strategies

1.Solar PV 842 MW (1.73%) 8,776MW(2020),

20,000MW (2025)

“Million Rooftop PVs Project”

• Gradual expansion/incentivizing roof-

tops prior to ground installations;

• Set target each year through FiT to

promote and guide various types of PV

construction.

2.Wind power 647 MW (1.33%)

1,720 MW (2020),

4,200MW (2025):

• Land: 1,200 MW

(2020)

• Offshore: 520 MW

(2020), 3,000MW

(2025)

“Thousand Wind Turbines Project”

• Complete 520 MW shallow water

windfarms by 2020;

• Complete 3,000 MW offshore wind

farms between 2021-2025; and

• No case and experience in offshore;

economic incentives and financial risk

reduction are needed.

3.Biomass 111.3 MW

(0.23%)

According to "Renewable Energy

Development Bill", "the use of fallow land

for energy crops as incentives and subsidies

for the production system of biomass fuels"

has been drafted.

4.Waste 629.1 MW

(1.29%)

• 925 MW (2020)

• 1,369 MW (2030)

• Municipal waste (622.5 MW): use waste

heat to generate electricity;

• Agricultural and industrial waste (167.5

MW): on the bases of electricity

generation and thermal applications; and

• Biogas thermoelectric applications (8.5

MW): on the bases of landfill gas power

generation.

5.Hydro power 2,089 MW

(4.29%) 2,150 MW (2025)

• The currently planned projects are the

priorities of development, approximately

168 MW (Taipower); and

• Encourage private industry and irrigation

and water conservancy to develop

running-through-typed hydropower,

about 100 MW.

6.Geothermal 0 MW 200 MW (2025)

• Short-term: establish 1 MW

demonstration plant in Chinsuei

geothermal area.

• Mid-term: expand geothermal plant

capacity of Chinsuei plant, and develop

Mt. Tatun volcanic area and other

geothermal area.

• Long-term: continuously develop Mt.

Tatun volcanic area, and begin to

develop deep geothermal power in 2025.

7.Ocean energies 0 MW 600 MW (2030) • According to the potential of ocean





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energy, marine energy target and volume

are planned;

• Based on the maturity and international

development trend, the development

schedule of ocean energy is planned; and

Build 4 MW demonstration plant by

2016; and,

• Build commercial-type power plant by

2020.

8.Solar water

heating system

Installed

collector area:

2.37 million

square meters

(2013)

Installed collector area:

4.09 million square meters

(2025)

Expand the scope of incentives to building

integrated solar water heating systems and

large-scale application technology.

Source: organized by the study.

CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS

Since Taiwan relies on imports for 97% of energy supply, energy security constitutes the most important topic of

national energy policy. The development of renewable energy resources not only can contribute the independence

and autonomy of energy supply, but also can achieve the effectiveness of economic development and environmental

protection-the so-called "3E".

According to the estimation, the reserve of wind energy, up to 251.01 TWh/year, is the largest one among all kinds

of renewable energies in Taiwan, followed by 203.75 TWh/year of solar energy, 38.20 TWh/year of biomass, 38.45

TWh/year of ocean energy, 0.56 TWh/year of geothermal energy and 140.95 TWh/year of hydro power. If

regarding biomass as a primary energy, and assuming 40% being the average efficiency to convert primary energy

into electricity, the total power of the all kinds of renewable energy reserves is about 655.06 TWh/year, which is

equal to 2.54 times of 258.02 GWh, the national power generation in 2015, so we can say that the reserves of

renewable energies in Taiwan are quite abundant. However, if intending to fully develop these reserves of energies,

in addition to the requirement to overcome the various difficulties of technique and implementation, the most

optimistic time for the completion will be as late as 2050. However, by then, the energy supply needed may be four

folds of the present's, based on the estimation of ETP 2008 of IEA, and the total reserves of renewable energies still

importantly account for about 70% of national energy supply then.

Based on the latest national energy policy, "Nuclear-free Homeland", the RE power installed capacity in 2025 will

reach 27,363 MW. With the promotion policies of carbon reduction and energy diversification, while in response to

energy security issues, Taiwanese government accelerates the development of renewable energy potential and

expands various types of renewable energy promotion goal from 4,929MW in 2016 to 13,514MW in 2020, ten years

ahead to achieve the ordinance goal of 12,502 MW for 2030 set by BOEMOEA in 2012. Further, a goal of 27,363

MW in 2025 is set to show determination of actively promoting the policies.

Under suitable planning and promotion, significant growth in new and renewable energy utilization can be expected.

The promotion of renewable energies would, however, require breakthrough in various regulations (e.g. land-use,

building codes, grid-connection standards etc.), which require inter-agency coordination mechanism to overcome

multiple barriers. To speed up the utilization of RE and deregulation of electric utilities, and the commitment on the

execution of “Renewable Energy Development Bill” and revision to the “Electricity Law” are among the most

important actions to be undertaken by the government. In today, a clear and definite commitment to RE

development has been given, with good progress. Taiwan is hoping that by actively implementing these action plans

mentioned above, the energy diversity shall be promoted, the environmental quality shall be improved and the

development of industries shall be triggered. The ultimate goal is to achieve environmental protection, energy

security and economic growth, namely the so-called “triple-win” situation.





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